But a current policy paper, Burial Law and Policy in the 21st Century, proposing radical new ways of treating the dead and their resting places, is likely to result in a huge mailbag from the general public.

Shadow health minister Kay Ullrich said her mailbag is full of letters from people who say their elderly relatives are unable to eat in hospital because there is nobody to help feed them.

The chairman of the company got a nasty shock in his mailbag this week - a letter from the Council blaming his company for unsolved crimes costing more than £603,000.